I've got to say I'm pretty disappointed with Nintendo's offering. It still has the same flimsy looking d-pad used on the sp. And just two more little tiny buttons on the front. Sure there are two screens, but they both seem pretty small. I love Nintendo's games but they seem stubborn against anything beyond slight evolutionary changes (ok, two screens is a big change, but you get my point).

Meanwhile, I'm not a fan of the PS2 library, but that handheld looks great! A high-res large screen with some solid looking controls. I'll wait a bit for them to smooth out any wrinkles, but so far I'm very impressed. And wireless gaming to boot with people close to you!

Humm, I'm going to disagree with ya, Belgedin. There's a certain "slickness" to the PSP design. They didn't have a lot of room to play with the overall design of the handheld, since the whole thing's basically nothing but an LCD screen (seein' as they went with a horizontal shape).

The look and placement of the arrow pad and buttons on the left and right respectively seem logical enough, the look of them matching that of a PS gamepad. The rest of the options are at the bottom of the handheld, which prevents you from mistakenly pressing on them while you're gaming. I mean, it was either that or have them at the top. And, of course, you need to name them somehow so as to let people know what each consecutive hole/wossomagit does. Since the little gadget had more than one plug, it may seem more cluttered.

And most importantly, it still has the crucial feel of a Playstation "console". I wager that was the most important choice and limiting factor in its end design. It was crucial to make the consumer realize this was still a part of their console family. Otherwise, you might have seen more otherworldly designs.

Having said all that, I'm not sure whether I'll be buying one come launch date. The rumored price for this thing is a bit too much for my taste. At least as of now.

Humm, I'm going to disagree with ya, Belgedin. There's a certain "slickness" to the PSP design. They didn't have a lot of room to play with the overall design of the handheld, since the whole thing's basically nothing but an LCD screen (seein' as they went with a horizontal shape).

That is of course your prerogative, but I still think it is plain and cluttered. There isn't anything special about the layout and nothing attractive about it, so slick is definitely not the descriptor I feel is fitting.

To whomever was complaining about the DS's controls: The PSP certainly isn't superior to the DS in that respect, it is rather asinine to infer that the PSP has a superior control scheme when the differences between the two (in that respect) are almost purely aesthetic(Oh, look, the DPad buttons aren't connected! That must be better!).

I won't be getting a PSP for two main reasons.

1. It uses a CD-type media. No thanks.2. It is most surely going to be way too expensive for my blood.

I can't help but notice that the PSP is lacking the second pair of shoulder buttons. That puts a damper on at least some PS1 ports.

The other major sticking points are price and battery life. The price will most likely be through the roof. As for battery life, since it uses an optical drive, and is supposedly fairly powerful, I'm expecting that battery life is going to be on the short side. My money's on the five hour range, which is on the short side, considering that the GBA does 10 with the screen lit.

Also, that screen's really big, and I can see it being prone to a lot of damage. I wouldn't feel comfortable putting one in my pocket, especially considering Sony's lousy track record for making durable electronics.

What concerns me about the PSP is the portability. As Nth Power asked, what kind of cover is there? All told, it looks like it'll be a lot like the original GBA (if a little "stretched out"... longer, but skinnier), which to me wasn't very portable at all. I kept mine in a carrying case along with a cartridge or two and it was almost like carrying a clutch purse.

The GBA-SP is just about damn near perfect to me, in terms of portability and what you get out of that size. Sure, a larger screen is nice, but the GBA is large enough IMO and the SP delivers that in a design that fits in a pocket (jeans would be a little rough) and folds over to protect the screen and buttons to boot.

I can't quite tell if the DS falls into the same category yet. Maybe more pictures, or getting one in my grubby hands would do it

I really enjoyed the original concept pictures of the PSP when it had a clamshell design or even a cover that flipped over. I do plan on getting one but if I buy one at launch it will be to sell on ebay for massive profit :twisted:

Looks like it will get some touching up in terms of physical appearance and I can onlyh guess that having Seen the PSP Nintendo will give it an even more appealing look.

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"I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

Check that link in my above post again, holy shit the DS is capable of going online with it's built in Wi-Fi.

I know that part of that has to do with the IM functions of it, but DAMN! Think about that...

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"I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

Imagine Animal Crossing online via bluetooth/wiFi using the stylus to write letters in the 2nd window while IMnig your friend. Also imagine the game's weather/time system being hooked into a network weather/time system to reflect the weather/time of day whereever you are at. Imagine visiting your friend's town in one window while you can still check out everything going on back at home in the other.

I've been beating up on the DS in the other console forum. Here's my take after watching both videos that GameSpot posted on the PSP and the DS. So far, I've liked what I've seen with the PSP and really didn't like what I saw with the DS. The PSP's graphics looked very good on the PSP’s large, well lit screen and the controls look to be well laid out. Unfortunately, the content was pretty light on showing games being played on the PSP which I guess shouldn’t be too surprising given how far off the launch is.

The DS video, on the other hand showed off quite a bit of gameplay. If you're worried about scratches on the PSP's screen then you should be equally, if not more worried about the DS's, since most of the games are apparently going to use the stylus. While Metriod Prime: Hunters’ graphics looked great and the dual screen allows it to show both the action and the map at the same time, the controls looked a bit awkward. The dpad controlled the forward/backward and strafing movement while the stylus was used for looking, turning and shooting. Lefties take note: unless there's a left handed version of the DS you might have a problem playing DS stylus games. I don't think a lefty would be able to play the Metriod Prime game.

Wario Ware DS and Sega’s Sonic game also make heavy use of the stylus. Both have the player rubbing the stylus back and forth on the screen very quickly as part of the control mechanics (in Sonic it makes him run, in Wario Ware there’s “scratch my back” and “make a coin rubbing” microgames) which makes me wonder how quickly we’re going to hear about DS owners rubbing grooves into their screens.

Finally, with the stylus games I'd be willing to be that the player's hand is going to block a significant portion of the screen (say at least 10%) while playing.

Ironically, the tech demos that they had looked more intriguing, the Balloon Mario one in particular which has you drawing paths for Baby Mario to follow to gather coins while avoiding enemies. Building that demo into a Lemmings type game would probably be a good idea.

All in all after seeing the DS and PSP videos, I remain convinced that Sony went with the better solution: going with a bigger and better screen versus going with two.